Drafting an Effective Demand Letter: The Basics

46 questions on drafting an effective demand letter, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are factual admissions in a settlement letter protected?
• Are lawyers considered debt collectors under the FDCPA?
• Can I threaten to report someone to the police if they don't pay me?
• Can someone sue me for defamation over a demand letter?
• Can what I say in a demand letter be used against me in court?
• Does receiving a demand letter trigger a duty to preserve evidence?
• Does Rule 408 protect a routine collection letter?
• Does sending a demand letter start a lawsuit or stop the statute of limitations?
• Does writing “For Settlement Purposes Only” make a demand letter inadmissible?
• Do I have to send a demand letter before I can sue?
• Do I need a lawyer to write a demand letter?
• How does a contractual notice-and-cure clause affect a demand letter?
• How does a demand letter change when collecting from a consumer instead of a business?
• How should a demand letter be sent to prove delivery?
• How should the facts section of a demand letter be written?
• How specific should the demand itself be?
• If I send a demand letter, do I have to preserve my own documents?
• Should a demand letter be sent to multiple potentially liable parties?
• What are the exceptions to Rule 408?
• What are the limits of the litigation privilege for demand letters?
• What are the penalties for an FDCPA violation in a demand letter?
• What deadline should a demand letter set?
• What debts are outside the FDCPA?
• What did Flatley v. Mauro decide about demand letters?
• What does a well-drafted breach-of-contract demand letter look like in practice?
• What does the FDCPA require a collection letter to say?
• What is a demand letter and what does it do?
• What is Noerr-Pennington immunity and how does it apply to demand letters?
• What is the difference between a demand letter and a cease-and-desist letter?
• What is the “least sophisticated consumer” standard?
• What kinds of claims require a pre-suit notice or demand?
• What landmines should a demand letter deliberately avoid?
• What should I do if I receive a demand letter?
• What special considerations apply to a demand letter in an employment dispute?
• What special ethics rules apply to lawyers threatening criminal charges?
• What special role does a demand letter play in a small-claims case?
• What statutes make threatening criminal charges to collect a civil debt illegal?
• What technical clauses should close a demand letter?
• When does a demand letter effectively require a lawyer?
• When does the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act apply to a demand letter?
• Who should a demand letter be addressed to?
• Why are intellectual-property demand letters riskier than ordinary ones?
• Why do demand letters resolve so many disputes if they have no formal legal force?
• Why does a demand letter need to state a legal basis?
• Why does tone matter in a demand letter?
• Why is the extortion line so easy to cross when drafting a demand letter?